Gunman's Plea, Release Leave Trail Of Questions

May 26, 1985|by TIM DARRAGH, Sunday Call-Chronicle

In his six years as a policeman, Lehigh Township Police Chief Jeff Schuler never had been the target of a gunman.

But in the cool night of Oct. 17, all that changed, he says. Schuler remembers well that evening, when he was confronted by a distraught man pointing the barrel of a .22-caliber rifle at his chest, he says.

The gunman, his mind altered from a drug overdose, did fire at police and ambulance personnel who came to his home to help him. No one was hit.

Today, the man who could have eliminated more than half of Lehigh Township's police force in one night is free, having quietly served a six- month sentence in a state psychiatric institution and a prison.

And what bothers the chief and others in Lehigh Township is that it appears a mix-upinvolving his public defender and the Northampton County district attorney's office aided the man - who already had done time for an armed robbery 11 years earlier - to walk free earlier than some people would have liked.

The story of how the gunman - 30-year-old Howard Ash - arranged his plea bargain raises often-heard questions about the crowded state of the court system in a medium-sized metropolis such as the Lehigh Valley. It also draws attention to the system that permits public defenders to represent both their clients and the prosecution in negotiated pleas.

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The call came in to the Lehigh Valley Poison Center around 9 p.m. Oct. 17. The caller, Ash, reported that he had taken an overdose of about 200 pills in a suicide attempt.

Ash, who had been in a serious accident three years earlier, was in constant pain and was despondent. Following normal procedure, police responded to his home at 826 Hickory Road, Lehigh Township.

By the time Schuler and officer Robert Hawk arrived at Ash's home, however, Ash had reversed himself and refused help. In a recent interview, Ash said he "got paranoid."

He just laid on a bed, clutching a rifle.

"At that point, I didn't feel my life was in any danger," Schuler recalled. "But I wasn't going to do anything until we separated him from the rifle."

After failing in an attempt to persuade Ash to release the gun, Schuler allowed Ash's wife, Noraine, to try.

Noraine said Ash "just wanted to be left alone. If a person wants no help . . . the law is with them. They should be left alone," she said.

But while Schuler and Hawk stood outside the room, Ash apparently panicked, jumping headfirst through a window, still holding onto the gun.

Ash disappeared in the wooded darkness around his home for 15-30 minutes. Schuler said Ash then suddenly appeared about 15 feet away, leveling the rifle at the chief's chest.

"Back off," Ash ordered.

Schuler, whose gun was not drawn, retreated. After returning briefly to the home, Ash jumped in his car, with Noraine driving toward the police and ambulance vehicles.

Ash then began firing. One police cruiser, behind which officers stood, had its front tires blown out. An ambulance was hit. Township Patrolman Richard Rehrig said he heard a bullet "go whizzing" dangerously close to his head.

Ash later contended he never leveled the gun directly at Schuler, nor did he intend to shoot police or rescue squad members.

"Don't you think, if I hit the two tires, don't you think I could have hit (police)?" he asked. A former emergency squad member, Ash also noted that one of the people on the squad was godfather to one of his three children. Others there were "close friends."

In addition, he said he "knew Jeff Schuler . . . and my family said never once did I point the gun at him.

"You don't want to hurt people you know," he declared. "The only intention I had was so that they could not follow me."

Police did not take up the chase immediately because they didn't know if Ash's wife was "helping him or (was) his prisoner," Schuler said.

Noraine, who dumped the rifle in a nearby yard, said she intended to drive until Ash passed out.

Shortly thereafter, Ash's car became disabled, forcing them to stop two miles from their house in the lot at Bethany Wesleyan Church. As Ash faded out, Noraine notified the pastor, who called police to the location.

They found Ash lying on the pavement semiconscious. He was arrested, but only after six police officers forcibly subdued the powerful man, who somehow was able to hold off policemen for about five more minutes.

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Ash originally was charged with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, resisting arrest and recklessly endangering. Bail was set at $50,000.

After recovering from the overdose in Allentown Hospital, Ash was brought to Farview State Hospital in Canaan Township, Wayne County.

At a preliminary hearing before District Justice Harold Weaver of Danielsville, the charge of attempted homicide was dropped. Ash's public defender, attorney John Morganelli of Bethlehem, contended Ash did not have the intent to kill because of his confused mental state.